# Emma Timbery > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Emma_Timbery > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Emma_Timbery.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Timbery > Source revision: 1353084785 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|(1842–1916) Aboriginal shellworker}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} thumb|Emma Timbery in 1895. '''Emma Timbery''' ({{circa}} 1842 - 26 November 1916) was an [Aboriginal Australian](/source/Aboriginal_Australians) shellworker and matriarch. She was also known as the "Queen of the Illawarra", "Queen of La Perouse" or "Granny Timbery." Her [shellwork](/source/shellwork) became part of a family tradition that continues to the present day. Timbery was also a Christian convert and active in the [Christian Endeavor Society](/source/Bishop_Heber_College) in [La Perouse](/source/La_Perouse%2C_New_South_Wales). Timbery also acted as a cultural informant about her language, [Dharawal](/source/Tharawal_language). == Biography == Timbery was born on the [Georges River](/source/Georges_River) at [Liverpool, New South Wales](/source/Liverpool%2C_New_South_Wales).{{Cite book|last1=Goodall|first1=Heather|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNByb2UuGZ8C&q=%22Emma+Timbery%22&pg=PA106|title=Rivers and Resilience: Aboriginal People on Sydney's Georges River|last2=Cadzow|first2=Allison|publisher=UNSW Press|year=2009|isbn=9781921410741|location=Sydney|pages=106|language=en|author-link=Heather Goodall}} She spoke [Dharawal](/source/Tharawal_language) and was originally known by her stepfather's last name, Lond or Lownds, who was a Dharug man and language informant. {{Citation|last=Nugent|first=Maria|title=Timbery, Emma (1842–1916)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/timbery-emma-13218|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2019-08-04}} At the age of ten, she was taken to live with Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hill in [Surry Hills, New South Wales](/source/Surry_Hills%2C_New_South_Wales). There, she began attending Sunday School regularly. She married George Timbery, an Aboriginal fisherman, in 1864 in [Botany Bay](/source/Botany_Bay). She and George had 11 children together.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/4841361/aboriginal-stories-come-to-life-in-historical-book/|title=Aboriginal Stories Come to Life in Historical Book|last=Warden|first=Hayley|date=2017-08-08|website=South Coast Register|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808082624/https://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/4841361/aboriginal-stories-come-to-life-in-historical-book/?cs=202|archive-date=8 August 2017|access-date=2019-08-04}} The couple had moved to [La Perouse](/source/La_Perouse%2C_New_South_Wales) by 1882 where Timbery was able to make extra money creating shell baskets. Timbery's shellwork was displayed on a regular basis and sold annually in [Sydney](/source/Sydney) at the Royal Easter Show. Timbery's work is part of the "early phase" of La Perouse shellwork.{{Cite web|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/emma-timbery/biography/|title=Emma Timbery|last=Nugent|first=Maria|date=2008|website=Design & Art Australia Online|access-date=4 August 2019}} In 1910, her shellwork was displayed in London.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/i-dont-want-it-to-die-out-esme-timbery-on-the-art-of-shell-work-20180115-h0icb4.html|title=The shell seeker: Esme Timbery's journey from Paddy's Markets to the Biennale|last=Kembrey|first=Melanie|date=2018-01-16|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}} Timbery was revered in the community, known as "Queen of La Perouse" or "Granny Timbery." Timbery was also a skilled fisher, and on at least two occasions, in 1876{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135869338 |title=The "Queen Emma." |newspaper=[Illawarra Mercury](/source/Illawarra_Mercury) |volume=XXI |issue=C |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 September 1876 |accessdate=6 August 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and in the early 1900s, a boat was provided for the community to enable them to catch their own fish. The boat provided in 1876 was named the "Queen Emma", in honour of Timbery. Timbery was also an [informant](/source/Informant_(linguistics)) on her own culture, working with the [anthropologist](/source/anthropologist) [R.H. Mathews](/source/Robert_Hamilton_Mathews), who was studying the Dharawal language and culture. [Maria Nugent](/source/Maria_Nugent_(historian)) writes that Timbery's "information has been essential for the preservation and revival of the Dharawal language." Timbery, who had become a [Christian](/source/Christianity) convert in the early 1890s, was also involved with Christian [missionaries](/source/Missionary) at the La Perouse Aboriginal settlement and also with the [Christian Endeavor Society](/source/Bishop_Heber_College).{{Cite web|url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5061399|title=La Perouse Mission Church|last=|first=|date=|website=NSW Environment & Heritage|access-date=2019-08-05}} Timbery was elected as vice president of the Christian Endeavor Society branch in La Perouse.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzGbDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Emma+Timbery%22&pg=PA110|title=White Women, Aboriginal Missions and Australian Settler Governments: Maternal Contradictions|last1=Cruickshank|first1=Joanna|last2=Grimshaw|first2=Patricia|publisher=Brill|year=2019|isbn=9789004397019|location=Leiden|pages=110|language=en}} Timbery was close to missionary, [Retta Dixon](/source/Retta_Dixon_Home) and the two women worked together. It was believed by the community that [Queen Victoria](/source/Queen_Victoria) had left lands to Timbery, but the paperwork had been destroyed in a fire. Timbery died in La Perouse on 26 November 1916{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121344651 |title=QUEEN EMMA DEAD |newspaper=[Sunday Times](/source/The_Sunday_Times_(Sydney)) |issue=1611 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 December 1916 |accessdate=6 August 2019 |page=26 |via=National Library of Australia}} and was buried in [Botany Cemetery](/source/Botany_Cemetery). She left behind a long family legacy of arts with her grandson, [Joseph Timbery](/source/Joseph_Timbery_Jr), noted as a [boomerang](/source/boomerang) maker and women in her family continuing to do shellwork. Her great-granddaughter, [Esme Russell](/source/Esme_Timbery), won awards for her shellwork. ==See also== * [List of Indigenous Australian historical figures](/source/List_of_Indigenous_Australian_historical_figures) == References == {{Reflist|30em}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Timbery, Emma}} Category:1842 births Category:1916 deaths Category:Indigenous Australian artists Category:Artists from New South Wales Category:19th-century Australian women artists Category:19th-century Australian artists Category:20th-century Australian women artists Category:20th-century Australian artists Category:Burials at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park Category:Shell artists Category:Australian Christians Category:Converts to Christianity from paganism --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Emma Timbery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Timbery) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Timbery?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.